Taking Shelter in Tel Aviv

When rockets from Gaza landed in Jerusalem Monday night I was certainly concerned. I subscribed to the i24News, an English language news channel in Israel, stayed up too late watching it and went to school on Tuesday.

Around 8:45, after watching a movie instead of the news, I headed out to the pharmacy. I took the long way since I'd been on the couch for a while and I didn't take my phones--so dumb! In my defense they were both out of charge, but still not smart given the current situation. 

I walked about 10 minutes, to the corner of the street the pharmacy is on, when I heard the siren. I sounds just like it does in the movies, but more faint that I imagined. A small older woman was walking towards me and we looked at each other. I said to her, "that's the siren, isn't it?" One of us said we need to get inside and we were standing in front of an apartment building. We grabbed hands and knocked on the glass security door of the building where we saw a man and woman had just entered. 

The four of us stood in there for a few minutes, listening to the siren and then the "booms". They got louder and we could feel the vibrations. At a particularly close-sounding one we all went down into the bomb shelter (every building in Israel has a bomb shelter or secure space, as I understand it) and were joined by people from the building.

My phone not on me, I felt a little worried, but everyone was very kind. Most people speak English around my area so I was free to ask question and asked them to translate a few time and the people talked about what is going on. There is also mandatory service in Israel, so I knew that most of the people in the shelter with me had at least some familiarity with military things. Many were in Tel Aviv 7 years ago the last time rockets were fired this far north.

There was one Israeli woman in that shelter who was visibly shaking. When I asked her if she was okay, she said the siren triggers PTSD. What a reality check that a lot of people have been living with this level of anxiety their entire lives.

If you are interested, here are the protocols when you hear a siren in Israel (in English) which can also be found on the National Emergency Portal website. In Tel Aviv we have 90 seconds from the siren sounding to get to a safe place. There you wait for 10 minutes from the time the siren stops before emerging. 

I think I stayed in the first shelter about 20-25 minutes but really have no idea. When everyone left the shelter I went up as well. The other woman who had come in with me and I slowly emerged from the foyer. Cars were going again and I saw a few pedestrians out. My new goal was to get home, especially since I didn't have my phone with me.

Walking at a brisk pace I made it past about 5 more buildings when the next siren went off. This time I scurried [read: ran] to the next closest building with an open front door and went in. People were headed down a tiny staircase and as I looked at it claustrophobia overwhelmed me. I more or less lost it. I stopped half way down where a guy was standing. I told him it is too small. He said, "it is okay, just stay here." He rested the palm of his hand on my left upper arm as I cried as we heard booms and said, "it is okay, you will be okay."  A woman who had emerged from the shelter said to me in Hebrew, "do you want some water? I haven't drank from it directly." I completely accepted after she repeated herself in English. Then the guy told me to go down into the shelter as he passed me to leave the building. I did.

This one I stayed in again until everyone else went up--maybe 10 minutes. I again peered out the front door to see cars and bicycles again moving. I passed the pharmacy towards home. I made it about halfway from the 2nd shelter to my house before the siren. Again I went to the nearest open apartment building and followed its residents into their shelter. There were only about 8 of us in this one where we waited another 10 minutes or so. 

After this one I made it home. When I got there the door was wide open, which I assume is so anyone going by who needs to can get in (or because it got stuck open--that happens). Many of my neighbors were in the stairwell and the woman who lives next to me says, "Where have you been?" I almost cried as I told her making my way home! She knew, and she said, "You look like you need a hug," and she hugged me. 

We all stayed in the stairwell a few more minutes and headed to our apartments, where I stayed up way too late watching the news and checking emails and texts. School was cancelled (such a relief!) for Wednesday so I stayed up a little later and called my parents. Around 11:30 I went to bed and had trouble falling asleep. I usually sleep with earplugs but didn't want to miss any sirens that went off in the middle of the night.

At 3 a.m., the siren went off. I went to the stairwell and sat with the neighbors again. We went back inside.

At possibly 3:30 a.m. the sirens went off again. I went to the stairwell and sat with the neighbors again. 

It felt like it took forever to fall asleep. I remember hearing the birds chirping but eventually exhaustion overcame me.

As I write now it is 4:21 p.m. and we have had no sirens today, although it is much quieter out than usual. I live on a busy street and have not heard any honking all day!

I live about 6 miles away from where the casualty was reported in the news and I am safe. My employer is checking on us regularly and I am not alone; All the same, your tests and emails and voice messages are wonderfully comforting. 

I will keep you updated on my experience as best I can as things unfold.